Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
ZACH
Outside the trailer, the blowing snow bites my face, and there are so many flashing lights that it’s hard to get my bearings.
I carry Sofie toward the waiting ambulance. Sheriff Olson’s SUV comes to a stop just as the medics open the back doors and usher us inside.
It’s warm in here—like they’ve left the rig running with the heater blasting. Gratitude flushes across my skin.
I lay Sofie down on the gurney. The medics split up. One jumps into the driver’s seat and the other starts unloading supplies from the various cupboards.
“You’re bleeding,” Sofie says, her teeth tapping together. Maybe it’s just the weird lighting in here, but her lips look blue. “You should be on this bed, not me.”
“Is your clothing wet?” the medic asks Sofie.
She shakes her head. I notice a red mark across her swollen cheek.
Gently, I brush her cheekbone. “He hurt you.”
“That was all,” Sofie says, her gaze unwavering. She’s so brave.
Tears burn my eyes. To think he frightened her… hurt her. “I’m so sorry. ”
“We need to remove the coat,” the medic says. “This heated blanket will work faster to warm you.”
Sofie reaches for the zipper but her fingers fumble.
“Let me help.” My right hand isn’t much better, but I work the zipper down and help Sofie slide the sleeves off.
While the medic tucks blankets all around Sofie and straps her in safe and snug, the need to check in with the sheriff before things can spiral further out of control seizes me like a vice.
“Can you wait one second?” I ask the medic.
He frowns.
“It’s okay,” Sofie says.
“One,” the medic says.
I dash out the back door. The blinding snow is like a wall of white needles. I hurry to the sheriff’s SUV. Rowdy is tucking Dustin inside the back. Henry and Barb are waiting just out of the circle of swinging lights, with Leo and Bea standing rumps to the wind, huddled for warmth. Another pulse of gratitude washes through me, warm and bright. As if sensing my distress, Henry nods, and Barb rubs the side of Bea’s neck. Later, I’ll figure out some way to thank them.
“You ridin’ with me, or your girl?” Sheriff Olson shouts over the wind.
I glance at Rowdy as his last phrase echoes through my mind.
My girl.
Rowdy’s eyes lock with mine in the whirling snow. It’s a look of gratitude and strength. Belonging.
Emotions clot into my throat, but I force them down. I lean closer to Sheriff Olson. “Can you keep Dustin from his phone call?”
Sheriff Olson squints at me, one hand on his cowboy hat, and nods. He climbs behind the wheel and shuts the door.
I race back to the ambulance. Inside, with the doors shut behind me, I settle onto the side bench and fumble for Sofie’s hand beneath the blankets.
“Ready?” the driver asks.
I lean close and kiss Sofie’s temple. “Ready.”
The hospital staff was prepared with an entire triage team to rewarm Sofie, but the respiratory nurse took one look at me, and soon I had a team of my own. X-rays and a rewarming bath for my frostbitten hand, and a physician’s assistant named Julian shooting me up with lidocaine to stitch up a gash on my temple.
“Let me guess,” the athletic-looking doctor said when he showed me my X-rays. “I should have seen the other guy?”
Laughing only made me hurt, so all I managed was a grimace.
I wait through an agonizing ten minutes alone for the lidocaine to work, where I second-guess letting them treat me. It’s going to expose me, but it’s too late to stop it.
Is it too late for everything else?
The PA returns with a suture kit.
“Um, can you hurry?” I ask him.
He looks up from unwrapping gauze and anti-bacterial swabs on the little table next to me, his eyebrow arched. “You want to look like Frankenstein, sure.”
“Sorry, I just need to be somewhere else.”
Julian gets to work, his fingers whipping past my peripheral vision, and even though I can’t feel the cut anymore thanks to the numbing, the movement and pressure from the needle are distracting.
Sheriff Olson slips into the room, his cheeks a blotchy red from the cold. He’s still bundled in his thick uniform jacket but he’s left his cowboy hat behind.
“Good, looks like you’re almost done,” he says to Julian.
Julian presses a bandage into place, scoops up his supplies, and dumps them with his gloves into the trash. “I’ll get your discharge papers ready.”
The sheriff steps close, a scowl on his weathered face. “What the hell is wrong with you pulling a stunt like that? Do you know how dangerous that was, running through a blizzard, alone?” He jabs a finger toward my head. “I should have them tighten your fuckin’ screws while you’re here. ”
He can lecture me all he wants. I’m not going to apologize. Because if I hadn’t gone after Sofie, I don’t know how we would have found her. In that time, Dustin could have hurt her or, worse, left her out there to freeze.
“When we put this plan into action, by no means was I expecting this,” Sheriff Olson says with a grimace, his eyes bloodshot.
When I don’t answer, the sheriff gives a heaving sigh then pulls up a chair and drops heavily into it. “Start talking. I need to know what happened up there.”
The words feel prickly in my throat now that I’m rehearsing them in my mind. I need to trust the sheriff, but it’s not easy.
“I had a theory someone was using dirt bikes on wilderness land to move product,” I say, then exhale hard. “I kept seeing one—or two, I wasn’t sure at first—when I was out.”
“Lotta people ride dirt bikes.” Sheriff Olson cocks his head. I wonder if he’s thinking of his son Gabe. Or Jesse. I know I did.
“It was always on wilderness land, where they aren’t allowed. That became a pattern.”
The sheriff takes out a small notebook and a pen from his breast pocket and scribbles something.
“Three days ago, someone jumped me when I was up there trying to track it. He had a gun, and I didn’t see his face. He gave me a burner phone. Told me if I didn’t do what he said, he’d leak my information to Kristov.”
Sheriff Olson’s brows furrow. “Kristov’s wrapped up in this mess?”
“Not exactly. I think Kristov spread my name through his network. And I think Dustin and Kristov have some kind of connection.”
The sheriff curses. “I’m sorry, Zach.”
I remember my plans to run, until Dustin put William’s safety in his crosshairs.
“So, The Limelight tonight. That was a lie?” Sheriff Olson asks.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
The sheriff scribbles something on his pad. “What happened today?”
“We ran into Dustin. He said he was out surveying and heard the radio and wanted to help us. ”
“And you realized it was him.”
I force a slow breath to send the memory of that moment into the abyss. “Yeah.”
Sheriff Olson glances up from his notes, his brows knitted together. “Dustin’s got a history. Drug charges. Did some time for assault in Washington State.”
Anger flares behind my ribs. “How’d he end up managing The Winter Range Project?”
“Nonprofits don’t exactly run background checks on their volunteers.”
“They should,” I grit out. A burst of heat jolts through my temple—either the numbing is wearing off, or the rewarming they’re doing with the IV fluids is working.
“Wait, what’s the name of the prison?” Kristov grew up in Washington, and I know he went to jail there before moving to Alaska because he liked using it to intimidate me. You think you’re so tough, try spending nineteen months at Stafford.
“Stafford Creek,” Sheriff Olson says, giving me a curious look.
I close my eyes. “That’s where they met. That’s why…” I can’t finish the rest and I don’t want to.
The sheriff scratches his chin with his thumbnail. “Cellmates, maybe. That’d be easy to check.”
They’ve been connected since, I’m betting. Maybe they even hatched plans together while in prison, staked out territory. An ache tightens my chest.
“Dustin hasn’t made any calls to Alaska, has he?” I ask.
The sheriff’s eyes soften. “Got some news for you there. Wouldn’t matter if he did. Kristov’s being charged with murder, assault of an officer, arson, and a few related charges.”
My heart thumps hard into my throat. “What?” I croak.
The sheriff grunts. “Him and the fuckwit he got arrested with a few days ago are connected with organized crime. Running girls and selling stolen U.S. military weapons.”
This hits me like a slug to the sternum. “They got him?”
“Yeah. Looks like it’s going to stick, too. ”
I swipe my cheeks and blink at the ceiling. Is this for real? I can finally get my life back?
Too many feelings hit me at once. Relief. Hope. Freedom. Grief. Love. Gratitude.
I suck in a sob and try to hold it all.
Could this really be happening?
“So while Dustin has us chasing our tails at The Limelight tonight,” Sheriff Olson says, watching me carefully, like he’s trying to be gentle about drawing me back to the conversation, “he’s bringing in a load of product for some big payoff.”
“Right.” I rub my chest to contain the emotions wanting to break loose so I can refocus on helping the sheriff. “He was meeting Kai. He works in the bike shop on the ranch. That’s how they’ve been getting stuff in. Dustin meets up with him when he’s out riding. He gives him a daypack loaded with product.”
“Did you see Kai out there?”
I shake my head but it makes my brain swim, so I inhale a breath and let it out slowly. “I caught a flash of his mountain bike coming down through the trees. It didn’t make sense to me then, and we were focusing on finding Linnea. But I’m sure it’s him.”
Sheriff Olson writes down KAI and underlines it.
“We had a girl OD at a party inside the ranch last night,” he says, frowning at his notes. “Maybe this Kai is the supplier.”
Jesse’s girlfriend, if I have my facts right. Which, in a roundabout way, put these events in motion. I sigh at the ceiling, suddenly feeling very tired. “No doubt he’s panicking right now, if he’s even still in town.”
Sheriff Olson taps the tip of his pen on the pad and stands. “We’ll find him.”
My thoughts snag on a detail, and I lock eyes with the sheriff. “Kristov’s arrest. You said murder.” The word hardens on my lips.
The sheriff raises an eyebrow. “Now might be a good time to share what you know about that.”
Relief sinks through me. Finally, it’s safe to talk about how Kristov lured a troubled girl to work for him, and when she tried to escape, he killed her .
I clench my fists. Fuck, it’s been a long haul, but soon it’ll be all worth it.
Finally, I can do right by Terrilynn.
“Come see me tomorrow.” The sheriff places his big hand on my shoulder. “You did good, Zach.”
He shuffles from the room. I close my eyes as it all sinks in.
Kristov’s been caught, and the police are pursuing a case—or several—against him. The sheriff is right. It’s time for me to speak out.
Kristov will never hurt me again.
He’ll never get his hands on William. Raising my little brother with the love he deserves isn’t just some dream—it’s going to happen.
Tears prick my eyes. I can go home, tell the sheriff what I know, and finalize getting custody.
The word echoes through me. Home .
Is Alaska still home, or has that changed?
What about Finn River?
What about Sofie?
What about Barb and Henry, and Rowdy, and everyone else I’ve come to care about?
There are good people in this town.
How can I leave them?
When Julian finally cuts me loose, it’s past midnight.
I slip into Sofie’s room. Rowdy sits next to Sofie’s bed, with Linnea curled up asleep on the easy chair and Jesse seated on the floor next to her, a stoic expression on his weary face.
Rowdy stands, and we share a steady, intense gaze. For a man who’s been through hell—some of which is my fault—he looks remarkably calm.
Before I can stutter out my apologies, he steps close and draws me into a firm embrace. I fight my surprise, and then I hug him back. That same sensation of my heart being pulled in two directions sharpens. I’ve grown to love these people—how could I not, given their kindness? Their belief in me?
But I love my brother too.
“Thank you,” Rowdy says in my ear. I’m sure he’s got a million questions, but he steps back, his eyes glassy .
“Two grown men hugging,” Sofie says, giving me a sleepy smile from where she’s cocooned on the bed. “It must be serious.”
Rowdy laughs and swipes at his eyes. He reaches for Sofie’s hand. “Or maybe it’s just… good.”
My gut takes a dive. After everything that’s happened, does he really think of me as good?
“They’re kicking us loose in the morning,” Rowdy says. “I’ll go check on that paperwork.”
He nods at Jesse, who lumbers to his feet and follows his dad. At the doorway, he turns back. With his shoulders slumped and the dark circles under his eyes, he takes in his sister in the bed, then lifts his gaze to mine.
“It was you at the lake,” he says.
He seems to be waiting for something, so I nod. “Yeah.”
“I wish it never happened, but I’m glad you’re here.”
The connection between us pulls taut. “Me too.”
Jesse gives me a thoughtful glance before slipping from the room, the door thumping shut behind him.
I lower to the chair, grimacing. Everything is stiffening up, and my left eye feels puffy.
Gently, I reach for Sofie’s hand and draw it to my lips for a kiss. Closing my eyes, I savor the relief and gratitude rising through me. She’s going to be okay.
“You getting warm in there?” I ask.
“Finally.” Her delicate fingers cradle mine.
There’s an IV delivering fluid to her other arm, the tubing disappearing beneath the blankets. Her right cheek is pink and swollen, but her eyes are calm.
“How are you feeling?” she asks.
Stroking her forehead, I force down the raw emotions splitting open inside me.
“Better now.”
She smiles, lighting up the dim room.
I glance at the sleeping Linnie, her gangly limbs askew on the big chair. “She okay?”
“Yeah.”
“What about Jesse? ”
Sofie blinks, but a tear trickles free. “He hasn’t said much. But… he’s here.”
I rub her fallen tear with my thumb.
Her eyes lock on mine. “Nobody will tell me anything.”
“Dustin is part of a drug smuggling operation.”
Sofie blinks in disbelief. “What?”
“The drugs come through the mountains. When we ran into him up there, he was in the process of moving product. We surprised him.”
“But Dustin is in charge of The Winter Range Proje—” Realization dawns on her face. “You mean it’s some kind of front? The Winter Range Project… it’s a lie?
“The only lie was how he used it.” I shake my head. “The project doesn’t lose its impact or importance.”
More tears spill from her eyes. “How did I not see it?”
“Don’t go there,” I warn. “Okay? He tricked a lot of people.”
“You found out,” she says. “That’s what went wrong up there.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re the one he called.”
“Dustin and my stepdad know each other. He threatened to expose me to him. I couldn’t risk William’s safety.”
“Zach, that’s terrible. You must have been so scared.”
I press my forehead to hers. This kindness and compassion… after what I’ve done, the harm I’ve caused her… A shaky breath rattles through my chest.
“I should have found some other way,” I say in a rush, my raw emotions squeezing the words.
“In that moment, there was no other way.”
I force out a steadying breath.
“Is William still in danger?”
I lean back and wipe her temples again. “Things are happening fast. Our stepdad has been arrested in Alaska. He’s going to jail.”
Her eyes light up. “Oh, Zach, that’s the best news.”
“I’ll have to testify, maybe even take the stand at his trial.”
“You can do it. I know you can. This means you’ll get custody, right?”
It feels weird to say it out loud, so I just nod .
Fresh tears glisten in her eyes, but her gaze turns fierce. “Of course, you need to go, Zach. This means everything to you.”
My nose stings with the emotions I’m failing to control. “I promised you I’d stay.”
I don’t know how to tell her what’s in my heart. I don’t even understand it. How can I love her this much, right when I’m about to lose her?
She tightens her grip on my hand and tries to smile, but it looks pained. “I would never keep you from your family.”
I kiss her softly, my lips trembling. But I want you to be my family, too.
Saying goodbye to her is going to tear me apart.
If I leave Finn River, I might as well rip my heart in two. That or it will die a slow and painful death inside me.
“I need to hold you right now.” I slip off my shoes.
“What?”
“Move over.” I lift the edge of the blankets.
“They’re going to kick us out.”
I kiss her again. It’s rushed, but the warmth from her lips tingles through me. “I’m okay with that.”
A little bit of the worry fades from her face. She wriggles to the other side of the bed, and I climb under the covers and tuck the blankets around us. The sheets are stiff and the vinyl bed crinkles, but it’s blissfully warm, the thick cotton blankets heavy. Gently, I roll Sofie to my chest and she wraps her arm around me. Exhaustion pulls at the corners of my mind. If only I could suspend time—stay right here in this warm bed just holding her.
Sofie releases a slow sigh— music to my ears because it’s another reminder that she’s okay. I never want her to hurt again. Be alone again. Feel abandoned again. But how can I protect her and fulfill my promise to William?
There has to be a way to stitch the two pieces of my heart together.
Somehow.